Uses
by Vermillion Serpent
Summary: "The Earl... he took him.." His voice was sticky in his throat, "It's all my fault." He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the handle of his weapon tightly, "I was useless.." ONESHOT No pairings intended.


Uses – D. Gray Man Fanfic

Genre: Drama/General

Rating: K+

Authoress: Loki

**USES**

It was rare for something as eerie as a thick fog to fall over the village nestled comfortably amidst the pine forests of central England. Naturally there was fog; but never one so dense as this. The vapour curling amongst the trunks and branches made seeing just one's hand stretched in front of one's face a difficult task and a stick to wave ahead of oneself was advisable should one wish to not end the evening in a hospital bed with requirements to reconstruct the face after it had been squashed by a collision with a tree trunk.

This fog was the reason that three exorcists had made their way to Eccles Village that day and were currently sitting in the corner of a quaint café that hummed with voices. They were seated at a small table close to the window and were discussing their next move with their hands wrapped loosely around a mug of tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

"Nobody has seen anything out of the ordinary besides the fog, that's what is worrying." The only female of the group spoke as her amethyst eyes darted swiftly over the surrounding tables; all of which were filled with occupants who chatted pleasantly.

"But it's also a good thing, it means that no Akuma have infiltrated _yet_. And Allen's eye is sure of that." The youngest of the group addressed as Allen nodded firmly to the red-haired exorcist who made the group a trio.

"Yes, but the fog is screaming Innocence.. don't you think it's strange that there aren't any Akuma?" the young girl insisted, "I think it's only a matter of time before something comes up."

"Lenalee does have a point." Allen agreed, staring intently into his half empty mug of thick hot chocolate, "and I have to admit I have been wondering where they are myself." he admitted, now shifting his gaze to look up at the red-head.

The scarlet exorcist leaned his cheek onto his hand and blew out through his mouth in bored exasperation, "They're level two or higher then." He sighed dramatically, "Another sleepless night then."

Lenalee raised her eyebrow, "What do you mean 'another'? You spent the whole train journey here fast asleep!"

"Yeah, but I've been up all night all week looking through old newspapers for Grampa-Panda!" He wined, sitting upright for the protest.

Lenalee giggled, "Yet whenever I bring you coffee you're asleep."

Allen laughed quietly, "Caught red-handed, Lavi." he said, grinning.

Lavi pouted, "You're supposed to be on my side, Moyashi."

The youngest flared immediately at the nickname, "I'll not be on your side if you don't start using my name!" he sat back down again, glaring with malice at Lavi who winced lightly at the death-inducing stare and laughed nervously.

Tucking a loose strand of jade tinted hair behind her ear and taking a sip of her tea, Lenalee brought the conversation back to it's core once more, "Anyway, when should we start looking outside of the village? We've interviewed enough people to decide that it isn't inside Eccles, so it must be in the forest somewhere."

"Why not this afternoon? If there are Akuma we should find the innocence before they do." Allen pointed out, leaning forward into the conversation again.

Lenalee nodded, "Yes. The safer we keep these people, the better." Lavi grinned and nodded in agreement, leaning back into his chair and letting his eye wander up to the ceiling.

"This afternoon it is." he said with a small but content sigh.

The trio finished their drinks with light conversation that often trailed over to Lenalee's overly-protected and slightly insane older brother. They pondered over how much time he had spent procrastinating over his work on purpose and wondered whether he had succeeded in rebuilding the infamous Komlin robot yet. Thoughts of home was often a topic of conversation and was definitely a form of motivation for them. Knowing that they would return back to people who loved and cared about them kept every exorcist fighting, whether it was through attrocious weather or a beating from the enemy.

The black priests left the small café and wandered around the tiny village several times and questioned a few more people over the morning and once they had finished their wandering, they decided to feed the youngest of their group to hopefully put an end to his stomach's groaning. Lenalee had reasoned that it would be best if Allen didn't fight with an empty stomach anyway since it would not be particularly useful for him to collapse due to hunger in the middle of a battle.

A buzzing but homely inn saw fit enough to satisfy their request.

The room was warm and steamy thanks to a roaring log fire that sat crackling away in the middle of the room inside a grand fireplace decorated with an assortment of horns and replicas of hunting weapons.

Lavi pulled off his scarf and wafted his face with a menu lazily. His eye was fixed on Allen and eyebrows were raised in disbelief. How one boy could eat so much food was beyond any logic he could try and put together. Twice his bodyweight and assuring them that there was still a hole big enough to fit some dessert in when he and Lenalee could barely manage a plate of stewed beef and vegetables! Though everything did look delicious and he had for moments wished that his stomach was big enough to try absolutely everything on the menu.

Allen had taken off his coat and Lenalee had mimicked this idea some time ago. The white haired priest finished his last mouthful of apple crumble and custard and patted his mouth with a napkin then placed it on top of his neatly placed knife and fork. Always the gentleman.

Lenalee smiled at him as he sat back and laid a hand over his miraculously still flat and well toned stomach, "We'll give you some time to digest Allen-kun, then we can head out and search for the innocence." She said, gaining a nod from both males.

"Yes, if we leave it too late it could get dangerous for the people here." Allen pointed out. Lavi nodded, sitting up and stretching.

Lenalee looked thoughtful and replied "Mm, we'll need to be sure to lead any Akuma away if they come too near to the village. It's small enough to get completely crushed by a single Akuma."

"I really don't mind leaving now. The sooner we find the innocence, the bet-" A terrific scream punctured the calm air and cut Allen off. If was followed by several explosions and the three exorcists leapt to their feet; instantly activating their innocence and dashing out of the door.

Lenalee burst out first and darted up into the air to scan for the problem and spotted it immediately. She plummetted through the air and kicked one of three Akuma that were terrorizing the villagers. Her foot sliced through the metal and the beastly creature screamed before shattering and bursting into flames. Beside her, Lavi's hammer drove the second into the ground and crushed it visciously whilst Allen drove his dagger-like claws into the third and whispered a prayer into it's ear as glowing white crosses engulfed it and ripped it apart.

They each landed on the ground and looked up at each other.

"There are more Akuma in the forest." Allen confirmed, the gears on his left eye swivelling madly around as it sensed the dark matter.

"We need to go now." Lavi told them, "Akuma means they might have found the innocence." he said, already beginning to walk towards the trees.

Lenalee's ankles were alive with a green glow as she hovered above the two of them, "I'm going to check ahead. I'll make sure they don't get to the innocence." she said confidently. The two boys nodded sharply and she shot through the air into the trees with the males chasing after her on foot.

Inside the forest it was dark and the fog only made the place look gloomy, but ignoring such a fact: Lavi and Allen ran swiftly through them. Their eyes darted about around them, checking for Akuma and avoiding trees which seemed to be getting denser as they progressed.

A sudden pain shot through Allen's left eye and he stopped just as suddenly. Lavi skidded to a halt and turned back to the other.

"Allen, what's wrong?" he asked, a little frantic.

"Akuma!" he cried, leaping over Lavi's scarlet head to plunge his claws into an approaching demon.

Lavi's eye diluted, "Grow, grow!" he yelled, swinging his enlarging hammer at another Akuma he now saw lurking in the mist. He took a swift look at his surroundings and could have cried out at the sudden realisation as to how many Akuma had ambushed them. He slashed at them with the hammer but was beaten back and knocked from his feet several times before Allen managed to ward them off long enough to give Lavi time to gather himself up again. He gritted his teeth and gripped the handle of his hammer tightly. He was as good as useless. He couldn't use his hammer properly because the trees were too thick and if he used his fire seal, everything would catch fire and the whole forest would begin to burn.  
Allen was fighting for the both of them and it annoyed him deeply that he was so unuseful.

He blocked an attack with the hammer and pushed it forward to slam the Akuma against a tree then Allen sliced through it with Crown Belt. Again, Allen defeated it. He let out a low growl and raised his hammer to attack regardlessly then froze.

It was so faint that even standing completely still he could only just feel it. But it was getting stronger. A vibration beneath his feet.

Lavi lowered his hammer slowly, breathing heavily and doing all he could to work out the direction that it was coming from.

He was taken from concentration by a scratchy voice and a snarl from his fellow exorcist.

"Good Evening~"

"Earl!" Allen leapt up from the ground and brought down his arm to meet with an unexpected parry from a thick black and white sword held by the chubby, pointy-eared man. The Millenium Earl chuckled and peered down at Allen over his thin glasses and grinned at him, recieving a glare in return. His grin widened and he poked the priest hard in both eyes before slashing his sword down and sending Allen crashing into the ground.

"Allen!" Lavi cried, taking several steps forward and gritting his teeth again as the Earl pointed his sword down at him. The younger boy staggered to his feet and rubbed at his watering eyes, blinking rapidly to try to take the pain from them. Tears leaked from his eyes from his frustration and the stinging. His Innocence had deactivated through lack of concentration which was most likely why he felt frustrated.

Lavi went to take another step forward but once again he froze. The vibrations were stronger than ever and from the slightly confused look on his friend's face, Allen felt it too.

The Earl however, floated down through the air chuckling menacingly, "Allen Walker, you're coming with me today." he announced. Allen frowned and opened his mouth to argue back but whatever he had intended to say turned into a scream of shock.

Green tendrils of a matter unbeknownst to any of them shot up from the ground and threw themselves onto the youngest exorcist. They curled around his form tightly and Allen's expression became that of anxiety as they began to pull him down into the ground from whence they came.  
Lavi stood frozen in disbelief before Allen's eyes caught his and the white-haired boy called out to him for any kind of help. This kickstarted the red-haired exorcist into action and he bolted forward with his arm outstretched to grab Allen.

The boy grasped at anything and everything to prevent the vine-like tendrils from pulling him any further. Lavi fell to his knees and gripped the other's hand desperately and pulled as the other pushed himself from the ground. But this was not approved of. The bonds tightened and made breathing for Allen difficult, so he gasped and his grip loosened on the ground. Taking the momentary distraction, they pulled him down suddenly, wrenching him from Lavi's grip. Lavi scrambled forward for him, trying to grab his friend's receding hand again. Allen stretched out his hand to Lavi's for one final attempt and brushed the older boy's fingers. Lavi grabbed at them and caught the very tips of his blackened fingers before he was pulled down into the earth and out of sight.

Seconds passed by and Lavi lay on the ground in shock. He slowly began to register what had happened and shook as he started clawing at the ground, trying to dig the younger boy from the dirt he had been dragged into. He screamed Allen's name several times and let out cries of frustration. Not only was he useless in battle; he couldn't even save his friend. He turned sharply to demand to have Allen back but was greeted with empty silence. He panted lightly and clenched his dirty fists, gritting his teeth.

A voice made him whip his head around with a snarl but the expression weakened when Lenalee's slim body stepped out from the foggy trees, slightly beaten but holding the innocence fragment. She tentatively stepped forward.

"Lavi.. what happened?" she asked with an unsure look dancing in her violet eyes, "Where's Allen-kun?"

Lavi took a shaky breath before he replied, "The Earl... he took him.." His voice was sticky in his throat, "It's all my fault." He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the handle of his weapon tightly,

"I was useless.."

**FIN**

There really is no continuation to this. I am sorry.


End file.
